With hindsight the result should have been freezingly obvious to football fans who braved the cold to watch Fifa's 2018 World Cup venue announced on outdoor TV screens in London and other cities. What other rival finalist could have laid on such easterly winds to chill English hopes before a single vote was cast?

Across the Thames from the Tower of London, it was snowing before the first fans turned up outside City Hall. By the time the result was due at 3pm it was snowing harder and the wind was racing up the river – all the way from Russia with no mountains in between.

Football crowds are inured to harsh weather and England supporters even more acclimatised to disappointment. "It's my day off. But I thought I'd make the effort all the same," said Lisa Burridge, 36, an Arsenal fan from Southend-on-Sea. "I've come to support our bid."

That was it, really. That's all anyone had come for, the familiar Saturday afternoon mixture of hope and trepidation. On stage, it fell to Sky Sport reporters Matt Rushton and Charlotte Jackson to keep the crowd busy and themselves warm for an hour or so. "Can we win the World Cup?" they cried. " Yes," roared back the crowd. But also, "No."

A trickle of the beautiful game's capped talent, both current (Tottenham's Peter Crouch) and past (Dion Dublin), did their duty by the England bid. So did the distinctly more polished David Ginola, ex-Newcastle, Spurs and France, who has been an ambassador for the bid. "When a Frenchman says something positive about England it's more persuasive," Ginola explained.

Promotional videos ("England is united, the world is invited"), dumbed-down competitions ("When did England last host a World Cup?") and street artists padded out the long wait. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, popped up on the big screen from Zurich ("Hi, Boris here") to report on England's progress. Thanks to "an absolutely outstanding" presentation, the game was definitely now in extra time. "Dream on," Boris confidently avowed.

The waiting fans were not to know that Mr Mayor was talking nonsense, so it was Boris who got the biggest cheer. Prince William's face produced a decent enough response from a pretty typical sample of London diversity. David Cameron's mug generated cheers and boos. Wills would definitely beat him if an election were held tomorrow. But Boris would beat them both.

By this time David Hare, 29, an Everton fan from Leytonstone, was getting restless. Where was the result ? We were all in a rumour-free bubble and quietly getting hypothermia. "Getting the World Cup would give us six years of looking forward to it after the Olympics," he explained with sports-mad logic.

At 3.32 – pm not centigrade – Sepp Blatter finally appeared on stage in Zurich, clearly determined to milk his four-yearly moment. "Let me just say something about the importance of the game," he began. " BOOO!" cried the punters outside City Hall. Blatter blattered on. When the word "Russia" emerged from his envelope, there were more cries of "Boo" but the hope holding the crowd together simply evaporated. Fans shrugged and – as on Saturdays – walked away at speed.

Some muttered that, once again, England had absurdly inflated its own chances and misread Vladimir Putin's absence. Not a bad loser, as the tabloids had suggested, but a confident winner. No one rushed to blame Panorama or the Sunday Times for exposing Fifa's fraility.

Could it be worse? "Yes," said one fan, "West Bromwich Albion could be relegated."